Digital inking has become a popular feature in many software applications. In many instances, a canvas is provided in a user interface to an application through which a user may supply inking input by away of a stylus, mouse, or touch gestures. The inking capabilities provide the user with an easy and natural way to interact with the application.
One particular feature of some applications allows a user to draw a path and then add text that follows the curvature of the path. Such a feature might be useful when adding a name to a road on a map, for example. In a similar context, a user may wish to create directional content, such as a visual depiction of driving directions from a starting point to a destination using arrow symbols. Presently, users are relegated to inserting the individual symbols and manually positioning and orienting them as desired.
Such manipulations may take the user out of a creative flow and may have other drawbacks from a more technical perspective. For instance, a user is presently required to shift between an inking mode in one moment to an editing mode in another, in order to be able to drop visual objects onto a canvas. The objects must then be tediously adjusted so that the desired directional effect is achieved, all of which consumes finite processing resources, to say nothing of the user's time and attention.
Overview
Technology is disclosed herein that allows end users to draw with directional effects in a digital inking environment. In an implementation, an input stroke is received on a canvas in a user interface to an application. The application identifies at least a directional effect with which to render each of a set of discontinuous objects along a continuous path taken by the input stroke on the canvas. The application then renders the set of discontinuous objects on the canvas along the continuous path with at least the directional effect identified for each discontinuous object. Such a feature may sometimes be referred to informally as directional stamping.
The foregoing Overview is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Technical Disclosure. It may be understood that this Overview is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.